Cost of keeping nuclear weapons revealed
Maintaining and developing the Trident nuclear warheads stationed on the Clyde is going to cost the British taxpayer a massive £18.5 billion over 13 years, according to the first official breakdown of defence nuclear spending.
New figures released by the UK government reveal that £12.7bn of public money has been spent on nuclear weapons over the last 10 years. A further £5.8bn is planned to be spent over the next three years.
The amount of cash being poured into the UK's weapons of mass destruction is also steadily increasing, from £1.1bn in 2003-04 to a projected £2.1bn in 2010-11. A raft of new high-tech facilities is being built at the nuclear bomb factories at Aldermaston and Burghfield in Berkshire.
Up to 200 nuclear warheads are being stored behind barbed wire and watchtowers at the Royal Navy Armaments Depot at Coulport, on Loch Long. As many as 48 at a time are taken to sea from Faslane eight miles away on Gare Loch by one of four Trident submarines.
Commenting as the new spending figures emerged, MSP Bill Kidd renewed SNP calls to abandon plans to replace the Trident nuclear weapons system.
"Trident is wrong regardless of cost but these figures add strongly to the case against these despicable weapons," Mr Kidd said.
"Nearly £2 billion a year is being spent on the upkeep of nuclear weapons, with another £75 billion due to be spent on Trident’s replacement.
"That is money that could be put to better use in our society, our country or even supporting our under funded frontline troops.
"The STUC have already shown that far from preserving jobs in Scotland spending on Trident suppresses the Scottish economy.
"Scotland and the UK have nothing to gain by retaining or building new nuclear weapons, yet they will lose any credibility in tackling international nuclear proliferation.
"The UK Government must listen to Scotland, there is no desire for new nuclear weapons, there is no support for new nuclear weapons and the Scottish Parliament and Scottish Government oppose new nuclear weapons.
"To build a "son of trident" would be an act of immense folly by Gordon Brown.
"Across Europe and around the world people are looking to Scotland to change the UK Government’s mind. Instead of building new nuclear systems to sit in the Clyde the UK should take the lead in calling for an end to nuclear weapons by bringing an end to Trident."
The UK Government released information on the cost of the UK's nuclear weapons systems in the parliamentary answer below;
1. Answer from Defence Minister Bob Ainsworth;
"The annual expenditure for capital and running costs of the UK nuclear deterrent programme, including the costs of the Atomic Weapons Establishment, in each year from 1998 to 2008 is shown in the following table
£ billion at 2008-09 prices
1998-99 1.2
1999-2000 1.2
2000-01 1.2
2001-02 1.1
2002-03 1.1
2003-04 1.1
2004-05 1.2
2005-06 1.3
2006-07 1.6
2007-08 1.7
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